Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of funding for primary schools.

The Department increased core schools funding by £2.6 billion last year and is increasing core schools funding by £4.8 billion and £7.1 billion in the 2021/22 and 2022/23 financial years respectively, compared to the 2019/20 financial year. This investment has enabled us to increase funding for primary schools by 3.2% per pupil through the schools national funding formula (NFF) in 2021/22, compared to last year.

Every primary school will receive at least £4,000 per pupil this year, up from at least £3,750 per pupil last year. All schools will receive additional funds to cover additional teachers’ pay and pension costs, adding a further £180 to the minimum per pupil amount.

The Department are increasing the extra support the NFF provides to small, rural primary schools by increasing the maximum amount they can attract through the sparsity factor to £45,000, a significant increase from £26,000 last year. This has contributed to small and remote primary schools attracting on average 5.1% more per pupil through the NFF this year compared to last.

The Department reviews school funding on an ongoing basis and the NFF is designed to respond to changes in need, in order for us to target funding where evidence indicates it is most needed.